1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communications relay device, communications relay method, communications terminal apparatus and program storage medium. The present invention relates in particular to a communications relay device, communications relay method, communications terminal apparatus and program storage medium capable of continuously transmitting and receiving data by the dynamic switching of terminals receiving data over a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, along with the explosive growth of the Internet, the sending of moving image and voice data has also flourished. The transmission of moving image (video) and audio data over a network is performed as a common network application. On personal computer (PC) networks in particular, the downloading of a preferred compressed video from the World Wide Web (WWW), viewing of live images in real-time or the playing of music data has become quite popular.
Diverse types of communication terminals are currently available, and the possession by one user of a plurality of communication devices such as a desktop PC, notebook PC, cellular telephone or PDA (personal digital assistant) is a common situation. Amidst such circumstances, the user may desire to switch the moving image data or music data being received on a desktop PC, to a cellular terminal such as a PDA.
Switching the receive terminals during the ongoing receiving of data, requires processing to close the connection for the terminal (e.g. desktop PC) currently receiving data; and processing to again open (make) a connection on a different terminal (e.g. PDA).
In the switching process for making connections in the related art, there was absolutely no continuity between the connection before being switched and the connection after being switched and these were processed as independent connections so that a terminal for example, in the process of receiving image data or music data could not be switched to receive data from the point in time when it was switched. In other words, when receiving data after switching a terminal, if the data was video data then receiving was from the beginning of the video data, and if music data then receiving was from the beginning of the music. The data therefore all had to be received once again.
In this kind of processing, when for example receiving a service distributing video data or music data for a fee, the received data had to be processed as two independent connections due to this terminal switching, causing the problem of double billing.
In an environment where the user possesses a plurality of terminals, the various problems with switching data receive terminals at the desired timing, and the continuous receiving of data after switching a terminal, were factors causing the user to find the terminal less convenient and useful.